---
title: Use the visual editor
slug: /concepts-overview
---

import Icon from "@site/src/components/icon";

You use Langflow's visual editor to create, test, and share flows, which are functional representations of application workflows.
Flows consist of components that represent individual steps in your application's workflow.

Langflow's drag-and-drop interface allows you to create complex AI workflows without writing extensive code.
You can connect different resources, including prompts, large language models (LLMs), data sources, agents, MCP servers, and other tools and integrations.

:::tip
To try building and running a flow in a few minutes, see the [Langflow quickstart](/get-started-quickstart).
:::

## Workspace

When building a [flow](/concepts-flows), you primarily interact with the workspace.
This is where you add [components](/concepts-components), configure them, and attach them together.

![Empty Langflow workspace](/img/workspace.png)

From the workspace, you can also access the [**Playground**](#playground), [**Share** menu](#share-menu), and [**Logs**](/logging).

### Workspace gestures and interactions

Use these shortcuts, gestures, and functionality to navigate the workspace:

- **Pan horizontally and vertically**: Click and drag an empty area of the workspace.

- **Rearrange components**: Click and drag the components anywhere on the workspace.

    To change the programmatic relationship between components, you must manipulate the component _edges_ or _ports_. For more information, see [Components overview](/concepts-components).

    To enable guide lines, click <Icon name="CircleQuestionMark" aria-hidden="true" /> **Help**, and then toggle **Enable smart guides**.

    If you can't edit any components, make sure the flow is [unlocked](/concepts-flows#lock-a-flow).

- **Zoom**: Scroll on the mouse or trackpad, or click <Icon name="ChevronUp" aria-hidden="true" /> **Canvas controls** next to the zoom percentage more zoom options: **Zoom In**, **Zoom Out**, **Zoom To 100%**, and **Zoom To Fit**.

- **Add notes and comments**: Click <Icon name="StickyNote" aria-hidden="true"/> **Add Note**.

- **Keyboard shortcuts**: To view available shortcuts, click <Icon name="CircleQuestionMark" aria-hidden="true" /> **Help**, and then select **Shortcuts**.

## Playground

If your flow has a **Chat Input** component, you can use the **Playground** to run your flow, chat with your flow, view inputs and outputs, and modify the LLM's memories to tune the flow's responses in real time.

To try this for yourself, create a flow based on the **Basic Prompting** template, and then click <Icon name="Play" aria-hidden="true"/> **Playground** when editing the flow in the workspace.

![Playground](/img/playground.png)

If you have an **Agent** component in your flow, the **Playground** displays its tool calls and outputs so you can monitor the agent's tool use and understand the reasoning behind its responses.
To try an agent flow in the **Playground**, use the **Simple Agent** template or the [Langflow quickstart](/get-started-quickstart).

![Playground with agent response](/img/playground-with-agent.png)

For more information, see [Test flows in the Playground](/concepts-playground).

## Share {#share-menu}

The **Share** menu provides the following options for integrating your flow into external applications:

* [**API access**](/concepts-publish#api-access): Integrate your flow into your applications with automatically-generated Python, JavaScript, and curl code snippets.
* [**Export**](/concepts-flows-import#export-a-flow): Export your flow to your local machine as a JSON file.
* [**MCP Server**](/mcp-server): Expose your flow as a tool for MCP-compatible clients.
* [**Embed into site**](/concepts-publish#embedded-chat-widget): Embed your flow in HTML, React, or Angular applications.
* [**Shareable Playground**](/concepts-playground#share-a-flows-playground): Share your **Playground** interface with another user.

    This is specifically for sharing the **Playground** experience; it isn't for running a flow in a production application.

    The **Sharable Playground** isn't available for Langflow Desktop.

## See also

* [Manage files in Langflow](/concepts-file-management)
* [Global variables](/configuration-global-variables)
* [API keys and authentication](/api-keys-and-authentication)